2/25/24 Law Library Overlooking The Forest
I remember a time when listening to Sleigh Bells was too much for me. Their sound was too harsh, the vocals too fried, I didn't find it physically comfortable to listen to. It was overstimulating and I wanted to like it on some level but I couldn't do it. On a whim, I qued up their 2010 album Treats while doing homework and I am blown away by how good it sounds, I can't stay still in this armchair while I type. The sound is no longer too much, it is just enough and I love it. My body is leaning into the chaos and the frayed audio, I want to be submerged in the sound. I recently made a joking comment to a friend in my car as we listened to my current playlist "Ello" that my current music taste prefers songs that sound like they've been microwaved.
I like thinking about a musical pallet changing over time, like how little kids grow out of certain tastes and how wine isn't supposed to taste good until you're older, how adults can't stomach too much sugar and kids can't get enough. My musical appetite has shifted so much, seemingly guided by my feelings at the time, by my musical stomach (would that be my brain .. idk)
Music often gives me physical reactions. It's not uncommon to be driving with my songs on shuffle and all of a sudden I have full-body goosebumps, or I get a lump in my throat, flooded with emotion and feeling moved by the lyrics or the sound or the thing as a whole. Some songs just make me so aware of being alive. It's good and bad, it helps me see the beauty when I haven't been, or reminds me that others have felt as shitty as I feel.
Lean into Life by Petey literally always almost moves me to tears. Old Bone by Wet, the Jim-E Stack remix makes me feel like a woman in a cosplay way and a real way, and connected to women all around me. 400 Lux by Lorde, I don't even know what to say about this one, except if you know you know. thicc by Shygirl makes me feel like this little guy
Speaking of thicc, the EP it's on, Club Shy, is so so good and everyone needs to listen to it. I really hope it gets played at the Charli XCX night I'm going to in late March, the club it's at said they'll be throwing, and I quote, "A dance party exploring the music of Charli XCX, her collaborators, producers, and related artists, as well as the hyperpop, PC Music and experimental avant garde dance / pop realms. (Think artists like Shygirl, A.G. Cook, Caroline Poloachek, Kero Kero Bonito, Lady Gaga, Sophie, Doss, Christine and the Queens, Rina Sawayama, Arca, Danny L Harle, Planet 1999, CouCou Chloe, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kelela, FKA Twigs and more!) Come to this party and we’ll love u forever (don’t make us beg for u)"
LIKE COME ONNN this shit was made for me. Also whichever gay intern suggested this event is a hero deserving of a Purple Heart. Out of that whole list of singers, the only ones I don't know of or listen to are Kero Kero Bonito, Doss, and Danny L Harle so I'll be studying up ahead of time. I am literallllly so excited. I threw a Charli x Troye party in my garage in December and it was such fun, I can't wait to experience that kind of energy in an established location.
I am going to another concert soon, I'll be seeing Donna Missal (eeeeeek!!!) on March 13, and I'm going by myself, and I'm really excited. The other concert I've been to by myself was Grace Ives, last year. I was scared to go alone because it was 21+ and I was using my fake at the time, I hadn't bought a ticket when they went on sale because of that, but day of I saw that there were still tickets available, and that the price had dropped a ton and it felt like a sign. So I peeled myself out of bed and drove myself to the Doug Fir Lounge and walked in the second she started playing. It was so good. I could do whatever I wanted, I danced with reckless abandon and it was so amazing.
I hope the Donna Missal show will be similar, I became obsessed with her back in high school, I saw her open for King Princess (hah!!) in San Francisco with my friend Eden and she was so captivating and way better than KP lmfao. And then we went again a while later when she was back in the city and was upset because her show was 21+ so she put on a special show for her 21- fans it was in a recording studio that was special to her and we sat on the floor and she sang to us it was honestly the gayest I've ever felt it was like me and Eden and 10 other girls it was so insane and one of the cooler experiences I've had. I'll be shaving my whole body for that concert... just in case...
Comment an artist that makes you didn't used to like, but grew on you, and I'll listen to them and tell you what I think >.<
xo
KATE
Japanese breakfast, but it grew on me quick. Personal favs by them are Paprika, Till Death, Nobody Sees Me Like You Do (which is a cover of a Yoko Ono song that's really sweet), Diving Woman, and absolutely my favorite: Glider. Also, the artist Ichiko Aoba. So fucking good. Album fav is Windswept Adan. But there's this one that's basically translated "funeral song at the seashore" but idk the Japanese name, it makes me soft cry. Pocket crocodile is one of my favs by Kero Kero Bonito, they’re really great. And felt on Old Bone, that one and Sunflower by Michele Leigh give me a nice pairing. Tiger is Coming by LEENALCHI is super dope, it takes traditional Korean singing style with a fun beat, and the music vid is soooo fun. It was done last year for year of the tiger, Korea's national animal. The chortals that the singers do are so fucking cool, they sound like birds. SHUM by Go_A from Eurovision 2021 I think was the year, also super fun. Makes me want to storm a beach or something. These Chains by Mid-Air Thief, and Inside Out by Duster, and (forever?????????) by Glass beach. Polo & Pan is a great band that takes samples from different languages and makes a fun beat to them, I'm really drawn to that type of music, even if I don't know what they're saying. Love is all by the tallest man on earth, and florist’s songs, notably White Light Doorway, Thank you, 1914, Cool and Refreshing, and Rings Grow make me feel. Space Cadet by the Technicolors makes me feel so many things. Same with Basketball shoes by Black Country, New Road. Treehouse by Kelseydog. Penelope Scott is fun she makes me feel like an anarchist videogame, and Indigo de Souza's Good Heart, Kill Me, and Take Off Ur Pants – Pleasure Systems album, visiting the well makes me cry. Especially the songs Life Sized and Blur. Miracle Musical's song Labyrinth, I got no time by The Living Tombstone, Is It Me by St. Paul & The Broken Bones.
ReplyDeleteClaireeee thank you for this stunning and thoughtful response. It truly means so much to me. I am on the hunt for new tunes right now and this list is going to keep me satiated for so long <3
DeleteOk so I went to the Donna Missal concert and it actually opened my third eye in a super violent but needed way. At first I was uneasy because I went by myself and i didn't want to be on my phone or be a wallflower... so I kind of just stood in the crowd and played with my hands (clasped behind my back or adjusting my bead necklace rosary prayer style) and look around inquisitively. Donna was so good, and I could tell she's grown so much as a person since I saw her open for king princess back in 2018. I've never cried at a concert before, really, but I stood there and let the lyrics wash over me and I couldn't help it. I saw a lot of other people crying and sniffling too, so it wasn't just me.
ReplyDeleteand Donna herself said she wanted the show to be a mix of crying, dancing, and raging. We felt the whole spectrum. I cried, I danced, I raged. I stood in line afterwards because she said she wanted to meet everyone. She asked me my name and hugged me twice. We talked about the under 21 show she did as a special treat for her fans in SF and how important it was to me as a teen, and she said that was one of her favorite shows she did ever.
She asked how old I was when I saw that show, and I said like 16 ish. And then I told her I'm graduating from college soon and she gave me a high five which was so cute. We took pictures together and I left feeling like a brand new person and the captain of my ship.